In this image made from video provided by NASA, U.S. astronauts Peggy Whitson, above, and Shane Kimbrough work on the outside of the International Space Station on Thursday, March 30, 2017. (NASA via AP/Thomas Pesquet via AP)

What's life like aboard the International Space Station? This is a question only a select few can answer. But thanks to a new virtual reality tour, more people than ever can step aboard the floating lab to virtually explore the station and its mindboggling views, reports Mashable's Adario Strange.

Created in collaboration with NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies, the program is called Mission: ISS. And it's probably the closest you'll ever come to visiting the space station for yourself. The program uses Oculus Rift virtual reality and Oculus Touch motion control to create a realistic simulation of life aboard the station.

As Oculus writes on its blog, the movie was designed to recreate the ISS "in painstaking detail." The free simulation was based on NASA models and developed with the input of astronauts and NASA's Virtual Reality Laboratory, which uses virtual reality to train astronauts for their in-space tasks.

With the help of motion controls, users can try their hand at everything from spacewalks to docking spacecrafts - all in a simulated zero-gravity environment. (Strange warns that the simulated weightlessness is so realistic that users might want to sit down before stepping into the virtual world.)

The simulation may be fun, but it is no video game, Strange writes. The program is intended give users a realistic idea of what it's like to live in space. Users can also learn about individual astronauts and the history of the ISS through a series of video clips. The team is also testing the program as an educational tool to teach high school students about the station.

Augmented reality is already being tested in space with the help of Microsoft's HoloLens headset, which will one day be used to guide repairs and let on-ground techs see exactly what astronauts observe. But virtual reality - completely immersive simulations - has yet to make it into space. That's about to change, according to the Oculus blog. An Oculus headset will be sent to space and used by astronaut Thomas Pesquet to test how gravity affects spatial awareness.

It's interesting to see virtual reality technology being used for other than a marketing technique for Samsung phones. This way people can see what it's like up there for out astronauts when in reality they couldn't do so my physical means in real life. Neat.

angelinac-pay

4/13/2017 - 01:13 p.m.

We do not know all the ways that VR will be used in space due to the fact that its rather new technology and still needs to be experimented on. The thing with VR is that at the moment it is used for video games mainly not for reality as VR does stand for Virtual Reality.

johannaw-cel

4/17/2017 - 10:08 a.m.

With a new virtual reality tour, more people than ever can experience what life is like at the International Space Station. The program is called Mission ISS and is created in collaboration with NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies. The program uses Oculus Rift virtual reality and Oculus Touch motion control to create a realistic simulation of life at a space station. In my opinion this is a really cool idea because most of the people won't be able to experience living on a space station and with this program more people can have this unique experience. You can also learn about individual astronauts and the history of the ISS through video clips and the program is used as an educational tool to teach high school students about the station. I think this is a really good idea to use virtual reality technology.

noahr-ste

4/21/2017 - 01:39 p.m.

It is really cool to see how much people are starting to do with the VR systems.

irisp-ste

4/24/2017 - 09:22 a.m.

I am definitely interested in trying this. In past science classes, I was always interested in the videos from the International Space Station and how everyday things from earth operated in space. It is good that educators have found ways to make VR educational and the classroom more engaging.

keasiak-bur

5/01/2017 - 01:04 p.m.

We don't know all the ways that VR would be used in space because we don't really know whats in space so it will be hard to determine how it will be useful. This issue because of the same reason to me because space is a very large complex place and we don't know whats in it.

kaileew-ste

5/01/2017 - 01:40 p.m.

There is now a virtual reality tour of a spaceship. This was created by NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies. I think this would be interesting but it wouldn't be as cool as the real thing.

keasiak-bur

5/02/2017 - 09:07 p.m.

The reason that we don't know all of the possible ways that VR will be used in space is because we haven't explored all of space yet so we don't know what's ahead. My reasoning on this is because space is soo big that we only know what's in about of our planets. The universe is to large to explore.

TLunsford03

5/08/2017 - 09:32 a.m.

We don't know all the ways VR will be used in space because it is still being tested, and released. The text states,"But virtual reality - completely immersive simulations - has yet to make it into space."

JScruggs17

5/08/2017 - 09:42 a.m.

I think its cool how that its new and not a video game.People will know how it feels to be like astronauts.